Hey everyone... it has 4 months been a while since I last took my car into the shop. That is promising!

I finally had to take her in.

LUMBAR SUPPORT:
They Replaced (AGAIN!) the gears in the Lumbar Support... I just don't get that one, as I don't used the thing on a constant basis... every now and then I'll notice it "soften" and will hit the UP button to firm it up again. We are talking alike once a month... ... ... and in this instance, if you scroll back, the first fix only lasted 10 days.. IE: when I picked up the car it was right... drove 10 days, noticed it was soft and hit the button and nothing! Oh well - - it is a "Made in US" car.

ACCELERATION NOISE:
I took it in because it started making a HORRIBLE noise on acceleration... a Scraping Clanking... ... ... Turns out it was a heat shield by the Cat - Dealership said the welds broke on the shield brackets allowing the shield to touch the exhaust - under acceleration the exhaust moved rubbing on the shield. They installed new clamps and spacers or something. Noise is gone now.

VIDEO FLICKER:
While they had it, I complained that the Video Display has been flickering - however it does it right at the time when things are about to transition from Day mode to Night mode... of course, by the time the dealership got to my car, it would no longer do it. So I'll be taking her in again later for that, probably once the display goes out completely.

STICKY KEY:
My key started sticking, hard to pull out - - Dealership said the key was bent! Said they straightened it. I have absolutely no clue how the key could have gotten bent - but what-ever, it is working now.

MILEAGE:
I still get 13mpg Local.. 19mpg Highway (15 if mix) - - dealership tells me that is normal.... Before the timing chain replacement, I got 17 local and 23 highway.. total bummer.

I' have been giving thought as to what car I would choose to replace this one - probably after the first of the year.

11-17-10, 12:59 PM

PJ1520

Re: So... What is wrong with your NEW SRX?

Prof......we buy low mileage, pre-owned, then drive them to the grave. Wife and I start thinking about the next vehicle as soon as we get into our current one.....in this case, the FirstGen SRX we picked up this past January. Wife does not want to give up anything she has in a current vehicle, and she never seems to think we have a large enough vehicle. The SecondGen SRX is out for our next one: slightly less luggage space (and not configured shape and dimension-wise for our dog crates), less motor, and no 3rd row seat).

Right now we find the GMC Acadia most closely fitting our requirements. Up here in the Northeast there is curiously a veritable glut of pre-owned 2010s on the used car market, tons of them (over 75 within 75 miles of home), but curiously only one or two 09s. We rented an Acadia this past April for our daughter and son-in-law to join us with the grandchildren and our son for a two vehicle (SRX and Acadia) road trip to Chicago and back home. Racked up almost 3,000 miles total. Nothing not to like. We also rented a Chevy Tahoe two years ago for a similar road trip during the Holidays and were pleasantly surprised by the space, features, and ride, fuel mileage too (20-21 highway). But the latter sits a tad too high and is a tad too large for our liking, for everyday use.

I like much of what the Lincoln MKX crossover has to offer, though there is no third row seating my wife insists upon for some reason......only have used ours twice in the past 10 months. But it has a nice 3.7L base V6 that puts out 305hp @ 6500rpm and 280lb. ft. of torque @ 4,000rpm......a step down from our GenI Northstar but quite a step up from the base 3.0L SecondGen SRX. 6 speed auto AWD. The sloping roofline might be problematic for fitting in our dog crates, however. At 4,400 pounds curb weight it is about 200 pounds heavier than the SRX II but it has the cargo capacity of the SRX I and more than the II. Fuel mileage 19/26 is up there with the 3.0L SRXII as well. With a zero to 60 time in the high 7s, the MKX with the base motor will run with the SRX GenII optional 2.8L turbo Ford Motor Company seems to be grabbing gobs of the domestic market share from its domestic counterparts.....so consumers are definitely warming up to Ford.

PJ

PS: MKX is allegedly "the class leader in horsepower and fuel mileage."

11-17-10, 09:58 PM

sgilbert

Re: So... What is wrong with your NEW SRX?

Give the Lincoln MKT a look-see. Traded my '04 SRX on the MKT and will never look back. This is a fantastic vehicle. Slightly bigger than 1st gen SRX. The 3.5 Ecoboost has much more power than the N* ever did. 4500 miles so far and not a single fault!

11-17-10, 11:41 PM

PJ1520

Re: So... What is wrong with your NEW SRX?

HMMMMMMMMMM......interesting. I'm off to do some reading! The interior size and cargo capacity a tad more than the FirstGen, seating for 7, and over 12% more horsepower and torque (w. optional turbo 3.7L) than the 4.6L V8 Northstar! This one is well worth a look.

11-18-10, 03:03 PM

Professor Wizard

Re: So... What is wrong with your NEW SRX?

Yea... those sound very interesting... ... .. I also very much like the looks of the Flex. Sort of Retro. Seating for 7, EchoBoost on such a small crossover should make her scoot pretty good.

I have an 05 Mustang, that has some problems Ford refused to fix - so I am not so excited about going Ford again.... All my friends who own a Chrysler product don't seem to excited about their cars except for the great deal they got purchasing them. I wish the the others had more entries in the Crossover market.

Ah well... Such is life.

11-18-10, 05:19 PM

PJ1520

Re: So... What is wrong with your NEW SRX?

The reviews and specs on the MKT are very interesting. I noticed some are placing it in the "wagon" market segment and not crossover. Anyway, the MKT is about 12 inches longer than the Gen I, about the same height, has 2 inch longer wheelbase, about the same fuel mileage as the N* but 12% more powerful (hp and torque) with the optional 3.7L turbo.

It's AWD configuration is about 600 pounds heavier compared to the Gen I with AWD, and a towing capacity a couple of hundred pounds more. Where it interests me is in the interior capacity: over the Gen I double the luggage capacity behind the third row, a third more behind the second row, and 16% total luggage capacity more with the second and third rows folded.

I'm sifting through the interior accomodations and like what I read and see. More later.

PJ

11-18-10, 10:21 PM

sgilbert

Re: So... What is wrong with your NEW SRX?

I'm not knocking the gen1 SRX, but having had the SRX for over 6 years, I have a great deal of knowledge about it. My new MKT (luxury version & big brother to the Ford Flex) is a fantastic vehicle.
BTW: the std. engine is 3.7 V6 & optional is the 3.5 twin turbo "Ecoboost" V6.
This MKT handles far better than my SRX, and the SRX had Mag Ride shocks. It accelerates faster than my SRX, and I had the N*, with better mileage.
I bought it sight unseen as the dealer had it on order already. If I were to have ordered, as I did with my SRX, I likely wouldn't have ordered the park assist or the rear DVD, but the blind spot & collision avoidance, and active cruise control are fantastic to have. I've got the rear buckets & console with fridge; fridge is NOT accessible from the front, however. 3rd row are power up, down, and rearward.
Sync system is AWESOME!!. Front & rear seats are heated and airconditioned. Nav as programable while in motion, however, only by voice. Sunroof is practically as big as the UltraView.

11-19-10, 11:42 AM

PJ1520

Re: So... What is wrong with your NEW SRX?

Prof.....re the plastic lumbar parts the dealer keeps replacing. What a pain, and an enigma. One would think the issue would be more widespread, but if I recall from another thread others have been having the same issue. Wonder if the repetitious nature of the issue has something to do with the way the parts are aligned or misaligned during installation. One poster had theorized his repeated lumbar mechanism failures were due to his weight or adjusting the support with his weight on it.

One of the things about the SRX that I liked going in was the power lumbar support. I have a finicky back, and the lumbar support changes the whole driver experience for me, whether that be on short hops or long road trips. The vehicles I have had with the manual supports were better than nothing and helped. Our Infinity G35 Coupe has a manual adjuster. But for me the power ones seem far more effective for me because they really press into the small of my back and support it.

The first generation 1998 Oldsmobile Aurora Autobahn with the 4.0L N* I traded for the SRX had the best seat set up. Eight way power seats that were heated (high and low temps). 2 memory driver settings set to fob 1 and fob 2, or activated on the driver door. And a dual power lumbar support, one support for the middle of the back and a separate one for down lower, around the L3 and L4 discs where most folks with back problems have their issues. Now THAT was a lumbar support!!!!

PJ

11-21-10, 05:00 PM

OrangeStang

Re: So... What is wrong with your NEW SRX?

Let's see:

-Battery continues to die randomly leaving myself or wife stranded about every 6 mos. 3 trips to dealer, they claim it is fine.
-Torque converter had to replaced due to bucking and jerking down the highway everyday. It took 5 trips to the dealer and me bringing the TSB before they replaced it. They kept telling us to run better gas, although we had been running only 94 octane for months.
-5 trips for horrid sunroof rattles. They tried "adjusting it" and lubing the seal which did nothing. Again I had to read the TSB and fix it myself. IN fairness however the 5 visits for the rattles were often combined visits for litany of other broken and malfunctioning parts that required replacement (see above).
-Front tires destroyed in 6 months due to alignment issues.
-Left turn signal fails to signal periodically, but the dealer refused to do anything because it is intermitant.
-Paint issue where paint was lifting off the hood. (dealer did repaint it)
-Car fails to switch settings between profile 1 & 2 frequently when using the key fob.

-Car continues to buck and lurch a bit on the highway when not yet warmed up even with the new converter. Essentially although the SRX is the newest car we own, and has 40,XXX miles on it, it is the least reliable POS in our fleet. I think my opinion would have been more positive if issues had been resolved by the dealer without the need for 5 visits, and multiple mis-diagnosis that left you feeling like A) The techs could be outwitted by a brain damaged 6 month old chimp, or B) they were trying to limp this turd out of warranty and then let it be my problem.

Edit:

I forgot to add: I hope there is a special place in hell for who-ever designed the front end that requires several hours to completely remove the front end of the vehicle to gain access to the turn signal bulb which I'm again having to replace.

11-22-10, 12:46 PM

Professor Wizard

Re: So... What is wrong with your NEW SRX?

Orange.... Sorry to hear you are having so many problems. However, all of them I have read about before from others. Just wait until you find out what you have to do to replace the License Plate Light bulb!

I too have questioned the validity of the piece of paper that states they people designing this car were actual engineers. Things like bulbs that routinely need replacing, and yet are not accessible... Things like when you turn off the Radio/GPS, it doesn't actually go OFF, but instead turns into a blue light bulb. Things like using cheap plastic for the gears in the lumbar support that strip without even using the thing! How about putting the Rear Wiper Control, up on the overhead light panel by the sun roof controls.... A stroke of Genius what is!

I also get upset with my car being returned and the tech's telling me "The Computer didn't find anything". (Read back about my heater issue!) I became convinced that the dealerships replaced all the real auto-mechanics with technicians - and THEY are NOT the same thing! My experience with tech's has been anything but satisfactory.

Anymore, I wait until a few things are wrong before I take my SRX in. (I feel confident that there will be multiple problems in a short period - so this strategy works quite well!) This way, I don't have to make so many trips. It I took my SRX in with each and every event, it would be cheaper to let the dealer buy it back, and just rent it when I want to drive it.

Owning my SRX has left me with the feeling that GM Engineers are Idiots. And too many mechanics today don't know jack about cars.

Well, as a change of pace, all I've had wrong in my 04 V6 with 71,000 miles, was a bad radio replaced in 06 and the passenger power window switch (liquid spilled in it) replaced last month. I feel left out, hardly ever get to see the guys at the service department !

11-23-10, 01:16 PM

Professor Wizard

Re: So... What is wrong with your NEW SRX?

tormented.... you have the opposite of a Lemon - - I guess that might be Lime... you best hand on to that one forever.

My roof started that damn annoying clicking in the headliner again. it does it when the temps get below 35 degrees. Of course, the service department can never duplicate it because they warm the car up in the service bay or wait until it is warmer then 40 outside before the test drive. The sound is exactly like the sound of a wire tapping against metal.

I used to stick a rubber block between the glass and the frame and that took care of it, but I lost the block during the summer! :(

11-25-10, 05:35 PM

conedoctor

Re: So... What is wrong with your NEW SRX?

Only thing wrong with mine is it is not an 08 with 20's lol

I really do love our 04 V8 but I am leaning further and further to the 07+ X5, the split 3rd row is a huge plus for us so you can hone one up and still have cargo room.

11-25-10, 06:24 PM

conedoctor

Re: So... What is wrong with your NEW SRX?

The MKT has some specs but the style is just so wrong, it is even uglier than the new TL and that is saying something.